Arcee had been out of recharge since June left for work two hours ago and as she waited for Jack to leave for school. The two did their morning greetings and once Jack had left, Arcee called for a ground bridge back to base.

/"I'm sorry, Arcee but that's not possible at the moment. I had to shut down the ground bridge again for maintenance. The damage done by those blasted scraplets still hasn't been fully dealt with,"/ Ratchet grumbled. /"It should be operational again later today to complete our scouting missions. For now, you'll simply have to drive back to base."/

Arcee huffed in irritation as she covertly transformed, and looked through the windows to make sure the coast was clear. Satisfied, she lifted the large garage door, stepped out, and discreetly brought it back down. Without wasting time, she transformed and raced down the streets.

June wasn't even a quarter through her shift and already she was feeling exhausted. The conversation she had with Jack, and the bruising she saw on his arm, filled her with dread and worry that refused to let her rest the night before. She tossed and turned, unable to sleep. She couldn't help but wonder where she had all gone wrong.

She knew that growing up without a father figure around may have taken a toll on Jack, but she thought he had been handling it well. That her parenting was working, even if she wasn't around a lot due to her work hours. He had grown up and matured far quicker than other kids his age. He was always looking for a way to help her, no matter how small. Keeping the house clean, dishes, laundry, and meal preps for them both for work and school.

Things that June felt she should've been doing. He'd gotten that job because he wanted to help her with the bills, but she had refused. She made enough to keep them both afloat. She didn't want his hard-earned money going toward that. It was her job, not his.

There had been an argument but eventually a compromise was made. Jack could help pay for some groceries and keep the rest for himself. June would've preferred he kept all of his money, but he was too stubborn to accept her refusal. He may not have had many friends growing up, but he'd been responsible. He kept his grades up and never got into any trouble. Until now that is, and for the life of her, June couldn't understand why. Had she too lenient on him, too trusting? Or had she simply put too much pressure on a young boy, who finally cracked and was now acting out?

'I should just end my shift early today. Make some dinner and talk this over with him,' she thought to herself as she finished aiding her current patient.

The familiar purring of a motorcycle engine fast approaching pulled her from her thoughts and brought her attention to the window. Right there, racing down the main road of Jasper and speeding through an intersection was a familiar blue motorcycle. She didn't know who that was clad in leather, but she knew that was Jack's bike. There weren't a lot of motorcycles in Jasper, and his was one of a kind.

June's blood boiled and her gaze hardened, looking through the intersection the motorcycle had just blasted through. 'Maybe I should go home early today, and have a nice long chat with him about this.'

It hadn't even been a full day and already Arcee's plan was in the scrapyard. He'd just gotten off the phone with Arcee, explaining how his mom had called him after his shift at work, and that she was coming home early. Jack could hear the sounds of a battle through the other line as he explained the situation, and to his relief, his guardian was now on her way back to his house. Hopefully, it'll be in time.

Now he was racing home, pedaling on his bike as fast as he could. Turning the corner he could already make out the figure of his mother waiting outside, standing in front of the garage. That was not a good sign. Jack slowed down and nervously biked down the street until he reached the driveway. June didn't even bother with an introduction.

"One day, Jack, one day! I can't believe you disobeyed me! Where is the motorcycle?" She fumed as she stepped toward him.

Jack struggled to find his words as a flash of green light appeared through the garage window. 'Perfect timing, partner, really couldn't have been better.'

Jack calmly reached through his mom's car, pressing the remote switch hanging from her sun visor. Slowly the garage door opened with a crawl.

"What do you mean, Mom? She's right where I left her."

Humoring her son, June turned around, expecting to see an empty space, and instead saw a motorcycle that was definitely not there just a minute ago. She scoffed as she turned back around. "Seriously, Jack? How did you get it back inside? Did you get one of your crew to sneak it in for you while I was waiting outside? Was it whoever that was in leather that I saw on your bike earlier? Breaking the speed limit and blazing through an intersection I might add?"

Jack froze and shot a glance in Arcee's direction, who like always, didn't react. He sighed and deflated upon himself. This is what he wanted, wasn't it? This was his chance to tell her the truth, but he hated that it had to be like this.

"Okay, Mom. You really want to know what I've been up to?" Jack asked as he walked into the garage and stood next to Arcee.

"My motorcycle is a sentient robotic organism from the planet Cybertron. She's part of a team that's stationed here on Earth fighting a secret war, and I spend most of my time hanging out with her crew," Jack kept talking, despite his mother's confused looks and attempts at stopping him. "The coolest thing is this bike isn't even her actual form. She's a giant robot that can transform into a vehicle!"

June had enough of this and threw her arms in frustration as she walked back to her car.

"Come on, Arcee, it's okay. We can trust her," Jack said as the motorcycle continued to be a motorcycle. "Really, Arcee? No more hiding, no more lies."

Nothing continued to happen, and he kicked her front tire in irritation. "Seriously? Roll out already."

June sighed as she opened the door to her car. "The hospital called before you came home, they need me back in. There's tofu in the microwave waiting for you. We'll talk about your 'science fiction club' when I get back from work. I hoped that you trusted me enough to tell me the truth."

It stung to hear those words from her as she pulled out of the driveway. Slowly, the large garage door came down, shutting Arcee and Jack away from the outside world.

"Frag me," Jack muttered to himself as he once again collapsed onto the dusty old couch. "Thanks for the support partner."

"Don't blame me. You know the rules," Arcee retorted as she spun around in her alt mode to face him.

"I know, I know. You don't exist," Jack finished for her. "This whole thing would just have been a lot easier if she'd known from the start."

Oh god, his mom was definitely going to believe him after tonight, there was no doubt about that.

But this isn't how he wanted it to happen. She was kidnapped because of him and his connections with the Autobots. This was his fault. GPS in his hand, Jack quickly directed Arcee to make a turn at the street coming up ahead.

"If anything happens to her because of my connection to all this, I don't know what I'll-"

"Jack, stop that. MECH is only interested in me. Once they get what they want, they'll let your mom go," Arcee interrupted.

"That isn't reassuring, you're family too you know," Jack added as they reached their destination.

It looked to be a factory or industrial plant of some kind. The pair slowed down, wary of their surroundings. Hopefully, MECH wouldn't be too big of a problem to deal with, and they could rescue his mom quickly.

This whole day was scrap. It couldn't just be MECH. No, the Decepticons – more specifically a certain spider-bot had to be involved. Nothing was ever simple, nothing had ever been easy for Jack once he met the Autobots.

He ran out of the warehouse where Arcee was being held. He was on a time crunch, he needed to find his mom fast. Confident that he'd put enough distance between any prying ears, he called Agent Fowler for some backup using the handheld radio he swiped from MECH's leader.

Help was going to be ten minutes away. That was too long, Jack already had less than six before even making the call. For now, he was on his own. He picked up his pace and frantically searched for his mother. Realistically though, he knew he had no chance of searching the entire place before time ran out.

A large shadow appeared before him in front of his path, the stuff of his nightmares. A tall feminine figure with multiple spindly appendages watched him for a moment before quickly disappearing. Jack kept up his pace, searching until he spotted the con once again. Airachnid gave him a viscous smile as she gestured to the large structure behind her. There, near the top and connected to a walkway was a white cocoon. From this distance, Jack could see someone trapped inside and started sprinting faster. There was only one person it could be.

"Mom!" Jack called out as he reached a nearby ladder. He continued to call out her name as he climbed, desperate to hear her say something back. He reached the top of the structure and wasted no time, running towards her as she finally woke up.

"Jack! What are you doing here? Who are these people and how did I get in this stuff?" June cried out.

Jack tried to reassure his mom as he tugged on the webbing, "Don't worry about all that, Mom. I'm going to get you out of here."

It did little to help though when Airachnid leaped onto the silo next to June and hissed; enjoying the look of fear that shone on the boy's mother. "Jack, the robots are real?!"

"I beat your deadline, Airachnid!" Jack yelled.

Airachnid beamed in satisfaction as she hung off the silo loosely, "I'm afraid not, Jack. The task wasn't to find your mother before the deadline, it was to rescue her. And I'm afraid time is up."

A string of webbing shot forward, pinning Jack's arm to the ground. He could do nothing as venom dripped from Airachnid's mouth, melting through everything it touched as she stalked toward his mother. Jack latched onto a part of the railing and used its weakened state to his advantage as he ripped a piece of the pipe off.

Using his newfound tool, he tried to free his hand, using the sharpened end of the rod to pierce the webbing. It was hopeless though, only creating enough room to barely move his hand. At this rate, he wouldn't get free in time. This was it, the consequences of his actions. He wanted to be a part of something bigger than just himself, instead of accepting the normal, boring life he had before.

"I'm sorry, Mom, this is all my fault," Jack despaired as he watched Airachnid inch closer to his mother with those venom-dripped fangs.

For the second time that month though, Arcee came to his rescue. He'd never stop owing her one.

She raced up the inclined conveyor belt and transformed once over the edge, smashing pede first into the Decepticon. Filled with newfound strength and hope, Jack pulled as hard as he could and wedged his hand free from the webbing. Now free, he rushed forward to free his mom.

"Jack, was that your motorcycle?"

"Don't worry, Mom, I'll explain all of this later. Wait a minute, I already did!"

He tuned out the sounds of battle occurring between the two Cybertronians as he tried to think of a plan to free his mother. Stray blaster shots brought him out of his thinking as the walkway collapsed. Jack held on for dear life as the walkway dangerously swayed from its loosely held position. He pulled himself up and peered over the edge to check on his mom. Grabbing onto a nearby console for support, he accidentally knocked a lever forward. Jack watched as machinery began turning and concrete poured from a nearby pipe below him.

Close by, he watched as the battle between the two femmes continued. Arcee took a kick to her chest and was knocked off, left dangling over the ledge. She launched herself into the air, flipping as she kicked the con back. Arcee let gravity do the rest of the work, accelerating her toward her foe as she performed a dropkick.

Airachnid fell from the structure and landed in a bin, and after receiving a nod from Arcee, Jack pulled the lever again. The sound of machinery signaled the movement of the concrete mix as Arcee positioned the pipe above Airachnid. The Decepticon had no time to react as the concrete poured over her, quickly drying and cementing her in place.

Arcee knew it wouldn't hold her for long, however, and quickly began scaling the structure to reach June. No sooner had she started though, webbing struck her back and yanked her back down to the Earth. Airachnid reveled in her small victory before the sound of blades loudly chopping through the air distracted her.

Jack watched as Agent Fowler and the reinforcements arrived in their choppers, and opened fire on Airachnid. He thanked Fowler for the support over the radio as the suppressive fire continued.

"If I knew the cons were involved, I would've called in Prime," said Fowler.

"I think that might've been too much for Mom in one night," Jack joked.

Machine gun fire continued to pelt Airachnid's armor, destroying the layer of concrete that encased her and creating a cloud of dust. A bright flash of green light pierced through the fog and swept over Fowler's chopper. The familiar sound of a transformation was heard and a sleek helicopter rose from the smog and escaped into the night.

June sat, wrapped in a blanket next to her son as a man in a suit made his way toward them both. She rested her head in her hands as she tried to process the whole ordeal. This night had been a lot to take in for her. Giant alien robots like that weren't supposed to exist and she'd had one in her garage for over a month. She looked back up to see the man now standing in front of her.

"Ms. Darby, I'm Special Agent William Fowler. It's time for you to know the truth. For the past few months, Jack has been interning for me at the agency and-"

"Agent Fowler," Jack interrupted. "Mom's not going to buy that."

"Got that right," June said sternly.

Before the agent could reply, a soldier walked up to Agent Fowler and whispered something in his ear. Most likely bad news based on his reaction and subsequent storming off.

Loud footsteps then came from the opposite direction and June watched as the fifteen-foot robot approached. "And she would be?"

"Motorcycle, guardian, Autobot, friend," Jack answered as he stood up.

The robot kneeled to be closer to eye level with her as she spoke, "Call me Arcee."

"Thank you, Arcee," said June.

Jack gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "Mom, I think it's time for that ride you once made me promise."

Ratchet groaned in frustration as he ended the comm link with Arcee. MECH and Airachnid were working together, and Jack's mother was now made aware of their existence. He sighed and rubbed his faceplate at the thought of another human running amok the base. Though speaking of Jack, he still had his blood sample in storage, untested. No better time than the present the medic thought to himself as he brought it out.

The vial of blood immediately caught his attention, however. He'd only started studying human medicine and biology in light of him having no clue what he was doing during Jack's check-up, but he was fairly certain that something was wrong with this blood. It was mostly dark red, but throughout the vial were patches of blue. Creating spots in the blood that looked to be almost purple.

Ratchet grabbed a syringe, obtained a sample of the blood, and placed it onto an empty slide. Observing the cells underneath a microscope, his optics widened in shock.

Edited on 01/26/25